Getting Ready for GA4
A new era of data measurement and user insights is here with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Change is never easy — even if it’s a change that promises dynamic, actionable insights — and despite knowing the switch was coming we have noticed a wide range of people navigating the switch.
If you’re reading this and wondering “Am I ready?“, wonder no more. While we primarily handle the switch from Universal Analytics (UA) to GA4 for our clients, we know there are others out there managing this change on their own. So we’ve gathered the steps we take to see if our clients are ready for GA4 and wrapped them up into this step-by-step guide.
1. Am I gathering data?
If you’re logging into your GA4 property and seeing this message, it’s time to double check your GA4 set up.
If you’ve just tagged your site, know it can take 24-48 hours for Google to process the data. But you can still use the Realtime reports to verify you are collecting data.
If Realtime is also coming up blank, the code may either not be on your site at all, or it may be there incorrectly.
Google has a great resource on guiding users through troubleshooting their tag setup. This is an excellent place to start.
2. Are my goals transferred over?
Goals were a feature in UA that allowed you to track specific actions (events) users took on your site. Think form submissions, button clicks, etc. This often went hand in hand with Google Tag Manager (GTM).
In GA4 there is no longer a Goals section. Goals have been re-named as Conversions. So if you’re tracking custom user events, you’ll need to do some slight adjustments. Along with an extra step of creating custom dimensions in order to view your goals/conversions in GA4 reports.
To view your goals/conversions, here’s a quick set of instructions:
- Edit your tags/triggers on GTM to make sure they’re pushing data to GA4.
- Once you’ve updated them, create custom dimensions to see your conversions in the Events report. Custom dimensions can be created under the Admin section.
- To view your events in the Conversions report (Reports > Engagements > Conversions), you’ll need to go to the Admin section and Events (under Property). From here, simply activate the blue sider under Mark as Conversion on the events you want to see in your Conversions report.
Following these steps, you should now be able to utilize the Conversions report as your new “Goals” section. If you’re not seeing your custom events or dimensions right away, give it 24-48 hours and check again.
If you weren’t tracking any specific actions on your website, here’s a list of events that GA4 is automatically tracking through Enhanced Measurements:
- File downloads
- Scroll depth
- Outbound link clicks
- Site searches
- Video engagement
3. How does my reporting change?
GA4 takes a strong preference towards users and measures how they engage with your website. It defines an “engaged user” as someone who spends more than 10 seconds on the site, had 1 or more conversion events, or had 2 or more page/screen views. Due to this new measurement, you’re going to notice a change in numbers and how metrics are defined.
Any previous reports in which you mentioned bounce rate, average session duration, pageviews, etc. should be revisited. Those along with others are no longer presented in GA4. In the process of removing certain metrics, GA4 has also implemented new ones that are worth tracking and placing into your reports.
Here are some of the metrics that we’re showcasing in our client’s reports:
- Users
- Engaged sessions
- Engagement rate
- Average engagement time
- Views
- Conversions
Final Thoughts
This new data successfully gives deeper insights into what people are doing on your site and provides you with more tools to help drive success to your digital platforms.
If you’re still finding yourself with more questions than answers, sign up to receive emails from us about GA4. We have an upcoming webinar in February 2023 where we will share our expertise and answer your questions.
Want to learn more about GA4? Check out the 4 Benefits We Love About GA4.
